Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Lane & Associates LLC

Lane & Associates LLC lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,160 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 40 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.2% of Lane & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,433,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Cooksen Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $86,000. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 160.7% in the fourth quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. now owns 232 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Macquarie lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $467.12.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $446.95 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $424.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $409.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The company has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $309.45 and a 12 month high of $456.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.45 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total transaction of $134,145.20. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.